Eastern Michigan University’s women’s track and field team took a decided victory against in-state rivals Oakland University and the University of Detroit Mercy on Jan. 10. The schools took part in the EMU Triangular at Bowen Fieldhouse.
EMU ran away with the meet scoring 119 points with Detroit finishing second (82) and Oakland with a distant third (31). The Green and White won titles in 11 of 14 events and the runners set numerous personal records.
Sophomore Makeda DeBardelaben started the field events off right, claiming victories in both the long jump and the triple jump.
DeBardelaben recorded a personal best 5.70 meters/18 feet 8.5 inches in the long jump and leapt 11.42 meters/37 feet 5.75 inches in the triple jump.
Sarah Chauchard and Janina Pollatz rounded out the top three in the long jump with distances of 5.66 meters/18 feet 7.0 inches and 5.44 meters/17 feet 10.25 inches respectively.
Additional victories on the field included Ellie Braidic’s vault of 3.80 meters/12 feet 5.5 inches to take first in pole vault.
Senior Kate Wolanin matched her personal best height of 1.72 meters/5 feet 7.75 inches in the high jump. The Green and White also took second and third in the high jump event with Kristina Coyne and Pauline Chiariglione each clearing 1.60 meters/ 5 feet 3 inches for personal bests.
Setting a personal record in the mile run and taking first for EMU, junior Victoria Voronko finished the event in 4:47.12. Voronko ran for another personal best later in the meet finishing first in the 800-meter with a time of 2:12.77. To finish off her successful season debut, Voronko anchored the 4×400 meter relay team with teammates junior Danielle Clark, sophomore Iesha Hardiman, and junior Marina Manjon-Rivadulla to take first with a time of 3:22.91.
Junior Danielle Clark sprinted to victory with first place finishes in both the 60-meter and 200-meter races.
Hardiman took the 400-meter dash in 58.86 and Chauchard finished the 60-meter hurdles in 8.88 to take home a first place win.
“I was pleased with the win and I thought that we had some solid performances for our first meet of 2014,” EMU coach Sue Parks said on emueagles.com. “Victoria had two great early-season marks and several others performed well. We still have some athletes missing so it may take some time for our team to totally come together, but we hope to keep seeing improvement with each meet.”
The Eagles will soon look to run away with another victory as they head to the University of Michigan on Jan. 18 to compete in the Simmons/Harvey Invitational.
